Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
As reams of Newcastillians came forward, highlighting the town’s overgrown issues, our editorial team got to work.
The goal was to simply establish just what is going on with plans to fix and clean up the town.
Broken and overgrown stormwater drains, dense vegetation on pavements, and street lights on throughout the day being the public complaint, the Newcastle Municipality was approached to offer clarity on the subject. This, an excellent opportunity to communicate with Newcastillians on the matter.
As a result, on 24 January 2022, the Newcastillian – Online News submitted a media enquiry to the Newcastle Municipality’s Communications Unit regarding the above mentioned.
The deadline for the aforementioned media query was set for 26 January 2022 with the goal of publishing the very same day. However, the Communications Department did not answer these important questions despite numerous follow-ups.
The only correspondence from the municipality on the subject was to enquire about which areas these issues were prevalent for the Technical Service Department to address. The query from the municipality created more questions for our editorial team as the state of the town is no secret.
Nevertheless, the questions were straightforward and went as follows:
- Can you please tell us what is the cause of the delay in rectifying the issues?
- When can Newcastillians expect service delivery to run on a schedule?
- What is the reason for it being allowed to get to this state?
It is worth noting that some of the overgrown vegetation found around Newcastle has transformed from little bushes into dense flora. An example of this would be Finnemore Street in Paradise. This area is prone to flooding due to the river alongside the road. However, the plant life has grown to such an extent that it is challenging even to see the water.
Finnemore Street in Paradise 
Finnemore Street in Paradise
Then there’s the issue of streetlights left on all day on various streets. With the municipality still owing a sizable sum to Eskom and the power utility experiencing grid issues, one has to ask why are the lights being left on?
Scott Street 
Nature reclaiming parts of HJ van Eck Drive 
Scott Street 
An overgrown curb on St Dominic Street 
A stormwater drain in Drakensberg Lane 
The overgrown play park in Van Niekerk Avenue 
The overgrown pedestrian pathway on the small bridge on Drakensberg Lane 
Scott Street
Due to no response, KZN CoGTA was contacted for comment. Sadly, none has been forthcoming at the time of publication. But, as noted today, 8 February 2022, the grass is being cut around the town. Hopefully, this is a sign of good things to come.
Regardless, the Newcastillian will stay on the topic and looks forward to supplying you with plausible feedback once obtained.
As we patiently wait, what are your thoughts on this?
Share your views in the comment section below.
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4 Responses
All these political parties are all a disgrace. They come out guns blazing during election time but will never deliver on their so called promises. Blame must be put on voters for voting for idiots who are good to loot.
Well done Newcastilian for highlighting this I hope it pays off
The town deteriorated badly in the past couple of years.Basically nothing was done to rectify this by the old administration. I think the previous officials were ego driven and were too stupid to understand that the citizens pay their salaries and sooner or later the citizens will get fed up of this laziness and demand that their hard earned cash be utilized properly and honestly.The time is coming fast when citizens are going to have the upper hand and show the officials who is the master and who is the servant.
Lack of management